THE YOSEMITE VALLEY.

Dunstan Times, Issue 543, 13 September 1872, Page 3

THE YOSEMITE VALLEY.

Of the Yo'Cinite Valley, the towering grandeur of El Capital), the irystio beauty of the Bridal Veil, or the giant vegitafion of the Mariposa. and Merced M* King has not much to add to the very full and iutercs'ing olfcial survey )ut forth by the Government of California, and reviewed in our cohims a year and a half ago. There is, however, much force an I jdc'uresqm mss in his description of a Sierra storm to whuh he and his party were exposed on the brink of the gnat canon, where the grauße wall went she r down 3,00(H. Cowning under their h'aukets, the weight of which j.radually became harder to 1 ear, the party, freeing thems Ivrs by a sudden effort, found around them snow a foot and a half in •lep'b. The great firs below were seen like solid cones of snow, now nd tin n unb ading themselves when severely bent by a sudden gust, and fil ing the air with dry white powder. During a momentary lull in the ury of the st rni, a *oud roar from Ca| itan heralded the fall of an avalanche, which, gather! g volume and swift css as it lushed from the dome-liko sun mit, to the brink, leaped out two or three hundred feet in space, filtering through the air till ic flute I like a elver cloud, and reached the valley depth in faint blue mist. The atlredral, 1 hree Brothers, a id Cloud’s Nest shot oft in turn their mighty loads of mow, •filing the air with their thunder, their pulverised masses sinking into the sea of purp'e cloud below- T,.e tempest breaking out again with redoubled fury, effects on an unexampled scale of grandeur were displayed Strange games seemed n> be played by the whirlwind with the fall of the Yosemite, of which the whole iip was tilled to the brim, and poured forth i s broad tornnt of white.” At one time a gust rushed upon the lip of ; he fail with such force as to dam hack all its waters, the white pile or column retreating upwards until not a drop cf water, poureddown the wa'l. This sight, familiarto all who see much of falls or shoots of water on a lesser scale, must have been inexpressibly gra- d where a fl. o 1 of the volume of the Yofcmite lushed ever a cliff, 2,000 ft. and more in height. Gathering strengthaftcr a while, the torrent overcame the wind,rushed out wih tremendous violence leaped 150f . straight out i ito theair aid fell clear to the rook* be ow, dashing high and white again, and breaking into a cloud of spray that tilled the lower part of the valley for a mile. At tiroes the whole mi hty cataract swung to and fro Ihe pendulum. Anon the whole mass was path red in a festoon, an 1 whirled hack over the s- n tnit of the w all. Mr. King got outihe theodolite to measure the angle of its df fled ion, which lie found to be carried round an entire scmircle. “A- very frequent jrri hj wrati li oprhc- wl ole 2.Cooft of cataract into asindea micirc'nlar festoofi which fell in the firm of fine fringe”— Saturday Eaiao ca Clarence King’s <S krra Saada,